Because [gougers] are a moral blight in this world...
Why do you think this? The moral principle, I mean.
Pretty much every time the power goes out in the summer, there are some people who go around and buy all the ice available. Sure, part of it goes to keeping the food cold, but a lot of it just gets put in dishpans to keep some room cooler than it otherwise would be, or dumped in a kiddie pool in the back yard to keep the beer on ice. Quite a bit of it melts on the back porch, never having been put to any use at all, but, hey, at a buck a bag, why not? If you needed it, you had it. On the other hand, the guy who needed a small cooler full to keep his medication cold but got to the store too late is just screwed.
In this world, there are people like the first guy. Whatever the policy, it has to deal with the problems these guys cause. Some stores try limits, which sort of work, but then the same guy just makes trips through each checkout line with 2 bags at a time, and more than once I've seen people with far more than the limits with the clerk giving him a nasty look, but making the sale anyway. At, say, $5 a bag, he's more likely to think, "Do I really need more ice? A bunch of it just melted last time." And the guy with the critical need is much happier to pay $5 than to not have any at all.
Whenever you ponder an idea, the important question is, "Compared to what?"
[EDIT]
This applies in spades to the policy of extortionate fines for gouging. When the potential fine is greater than the annual profit, and even if it's not true, a single disgruntled person filing a claim can impose lawyer costs well over your monthly profit, the smart move is to simply remain closed after a disaster.
[/EDIT]
In this scenario you are comparing the person engaging in dangerous behaviour (a gouger exploiting people in times of crisis) with a person being endangered by reckless behaviour (a child about to be hit by a careless driver). This is funny
I was trying to compare gouger to speeder, the people being "exploited" with the kid getting splatted.
By the way, there's an easy way to keep from being exploited by gougers. Just don't buy from them. But don't even attempt doing the same with the taxing authorities. If you want to know who the real exploiters are, ask yourself, "To whom can I say, 'No'".
If the latter, that's where you had the foresight to set aside a little extra for your neighbor, trusting that if the roles were reversed, he would do the same for you.
If you don't think humans are ingenious enough to devise ways of storing food in ways that are safe from most disaster conditions, you need an explanation for why humans didn't die out hundreds of thousands, millions of years ago. Maybe we've just become terminally stupid?
See:Access to refrigeration, storage space, the ability to procure such items in sufficient quantity at a price within their means e.t.c. all contribute to this. Even in developed countries, even when there are no times of crisis, you can see this effect on everyday spending. It is trivial for wealthier individuals to purchase bulk items & transport them, whereas items which are sold in smaller units all cost higher per gram or per litre. As a result it is cheaper for wealthier shoppers to buy higher quality ingredients in bulk than it is for poorer persons to buy lower quality ingredients in smaller units. This disparity grows when you consider how many more facilities for storage and cooking are available for wealthier persons than their poorer counterparts. Poverty is self-reinforcing. If you have more market power you can reject bad deals; for poorer persons, they have to take what they can get. This is where price gouging becomes especially evil, in that you severely reward those who have more market power and completely fuck over those without it.
Out of all possible solutions to this; whether it be through education, social values, religion, disaster relief stockpiles, support networks, community outreach, reserve forces e.t.c. why would you pick the only one that creates a perverse incentive for the creation of a parasite class of merchants of misery who actively get people killed in times of crisis and actively make things worse for those who have the will to prepare, but lack the means. The stick of a price gouger is pitiable compared to the stick of the disaster which enables them; but you're giving a carrot to predatory behaviour, and you will get predators if you allow it
I get the feeling you are coming from a lesser developed country. I have no personal experience there. But I have lots of personal experience in the States. If anything, it's become far easier now for those of lesser means to stock up. You have to look at prices, but often Amazon has durable food less expensive than at the big box, and they bring it right to your door. Every year, Bezos gives away Prime to poor people, so they have access to better delivery terms than I do, though honestly, it's not that hard to end up with $25 in your cart so you get free shipping. There's a regional supermarket chain with prices really close to WalMart that delivers a $50 order for free. I use that all the time rather than dealing with the hassle of shopping, though I tip the delivery person generously. And in return, they make sure my order has no damaged packages before they deliver it.
If you live somewhere that options like this do not exist, where there are no sales except gougers, I feel sorry for you, though I can't really empathize as I have no frame of reference.
Author
Topic: Armchair Economics Thread - Re-Resurrection (Read 34039 times)